“There certainly is a cult of the mad these days: think of all the boys who’ve been in the bin–I don’t understand it. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Hardy–it’s the big, sane boys who get the medals. The object of writing is to show life as it is, and if you don’t see it like that you’re in trouble, not life. “
Philip Larkin, interviewed by John Haffenden (Manchester Guardian, Mar. 31, 1973)